The award that elevated the likes of Messi, ‘Dibu’ Martínez and Alexia Putellas left quirks at the gala, in the mood and the occasional contradiction
Lionel Messi this Monday accepted the award of The Best as the best footballer in the world in a gala tinged with albiceleste that brought the world champion Argentina, with ‘Dibu’ Martínez as the best goalkeeper and Lionel Scaloni as the best coach in the world. world, rounding out the awards from a gala that was more of a continuation of Qatar’s World Cup awards ceremony than anything else.
La Pulga was crowned over his teammate Kylian Mbappé and Karim Benzema, who completed the podium. After the ceremony, FIFA published the votes of each player and coach and morbidity was served.
To begin with, Leo Messi voted for Neymar and Mbappé, his two PSG trident teammates, and Benzema. Neymar, despite a weak season and with injuries as protagonists, was also supported by Thiago Silva, captain of the ‘Canarinha’, who also voted for Messi and did not vote for Vinicius Junior, who had an excellent season with goal included in the Champions League Final.
The one who did was Mohammed Salah, who voted first for Vinicius. Captains of important national teams such as Godín, Busquets, Van Dijk, Lewandowski, Manuel Neuer or Heung Min Son voted Messi as The Best with the highest score. Their rivals at the World Cup, such as the captains of Mexico or Saudi Arabia, opted for Argentina’s ’10’. Even Hugo Loris, his rival in the final, voted for him, albeit in third place.
‘Dibu’ Martínez, who signed a fantastic World Cup, won the prize for best goalkeeper in the world, ahead of Thibaut Courtois and Yassine Bounou. However, he was not selected in the FIFA ideal 11, where the Belgian goalkeeper of Real Madrid stood. A contradiction that encapsulates the reality of this class of individual distinctions that are sometimes untrue.
The vote of the new Spanish coach, Luis de la Fuente, was also curious, who did not vote for any of the favorites for the award, and decided to bet on Julián Álvarez, Jude Bellingham and Luka Modric. Overall, Messi and Mbappe were very even in the voting for footballers, but the Argentine won the votes for coaches and journalists, eventually tipping the scales in his favour.
The vote that attracted the most attention was that of David Alaba, the Austrian central defender of Real Madrid, who was the first to vote for Leo Messi, ahead of his teammate Karim Benzema. Given the deluge of comments on social networks, Alaba was forced to make a statement explaining that “they voted for him as a team, not just me.” “Everyone knows, especially Karim, that I admire him very much and that for me he is the best striker in the world,” said Alaba.
It was also a reunion gala, mainly that of Joan Laporta and Leo Messi. A possible meeting between the two that aroused many expectations and that ultimately fell through. The reunion between Mbappé and Florentino Pérez was also in the news, but Real Madrid only had the institutional presence of Emilio Butragueño.
Galas marked by marketing and that give context to awards full of contradictions and without veracity, in which, as in this case, the protagonists of the World Cup are awarded, but in other years they were not the winners, as in the year 2010 .
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
